Project Managment Office

• What is PMO

The Project Management Office (PMO) in a business or professional enterprise is the department or group that defines processes and the same is implemented throughout the organization in true letter and spirit. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance and reporting on the practice of project management and execution.

• Why PMO

For years, business units have struggled to deliver projects on time and within budget. But with today’s emphasis on getting more bang for the buck, IT has to rein in projects more closely than ever. That challenge has led S+ to turn to the project management office (PMO) as a way to cut costs and improve on quality of project delivery.

Overview of  the PMO Framework

• PMO Phases

• Stage Name

• Overview

1  PRE-SALES

Pre-Sales is not a part of the PMO Process flow however the input to the Initiation and Planning phase is acquired from the Pre Sales phase. This phase involves a series of interactions with the client to understand the clients business processes, challenges faced, operating environment, budgets, etc. and responding to the same. It is highly recommended that time and resource commitments required to conduct this phase of the project are taken into consideration during the Sales/Pre-Sales phase when the project cost and effort estimation are being worked out. The final output of this phase is the Approved SOW/Contract.

 2  INITIATION & PLANNING

This is the kick-off and planning phase of the project and is a crucial part of project delivery. In this  phase the project management plan and project plan (detailed) are prepared. Resources are identified.  Project Initiation and Closure form is filled in and sent to the Time Live administrator for project  creation and to the PMO for project folder creation and access management. Project Assignment  Review Forms are prepared to identify expectations from each resource.

 3 EXECUTION

This is the phase where the project team starts working on the project activities and deliverable s. The project activities will depend upon the nature of the project (project type) and the process level defined for the project. The actual project activities and deliverable s however may differ from project to project and will completely depend upon the project’s requirements and agreement with the customer.

 4 MONITOR & CONTROL

This phase spans across the entire project cycle starting from the time the project is initiated until its closure. It defines the project management and governance activities for the project. These activities should be carried out as per the frequency defined in Project Initiation and Closure Form/PMP. Risks, issues and constraints are monitored during this phase and are tracked in the RIC Log. Any change resulting in scope, time, cost and resource are evaluated during this process.  

 5 CLOSURE

Project Closure defines the final activities that need to be carried out when the contractual agreement of the project has ended. Ensure deliverable s are as per the SOW and validate the same with a closure note from the customer. This closure note severs as an official sign off from the customer after which an internal sign off needs to be taken from the PMO on completion of internal deliverable s that include lessons learned and customer feedback form. In case feedback form is not received from client then at least two follow-ups done should be demonstrated (email copy, conference call recording, dashboard report etc) to close the project.

6 PMO Training and Induction

PMO group will train users annually to provide PMO awareness. 

All Users will undergo an Internal Certification course.

Effectiveness of training will be evaluated on the basis a test and implementation of the same.

Individuals who qualify in any of the above criteria will be awarded with Certificates.

An induction will be conducted for all new joiners that covers an overview of PMO, Time Live, PMO Service Desk and Systems Plus PMO site

About Author:

Maheshwari Shah is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, She actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. She can be contacted at: maheshwari.shah@spluspl.com